One of my big goals for the fall, and really the year as a whole, was to take the opportunity, perhaps the last good opportunity, to improve the two 20 acre patches that have most recently been seeded by spreading a wide variety of species that I want to get established. The Huggett land that was seeded four years ago is filled in with perennial grasses (and Canada thistles) on the 3-4 acres of mesic soil, which will not allow much for new seedlings, though we hope to aid establishment of new plants by conducting a burn there during late April next spring. Most of the Huggett land, however, is xeric soils where it takes a long time to establish a complete ground cover, and I think the window is still open for augmenting with new species and larger populations of existing species. 2024 was a very good year for collecting seed on my xeric soils because of copious rain through almost the entire growing season (it suddenly shut off in early August after a very wet spring and early summer) and we have several species where gathering was only limited by the time we could put into it. The other 20 acre patch I am referring to was seeded two years ago, and has so far been a bit of a disappointment, with almost all the plants we see so far coming from the mix put in with the Day County Conservation District drill, basically the cheap seed of commonly used species, and very little is showing up yet of the gathered seed we spread by hand over the top. More will certainly show up in the future, but after two years there is clearly room for new seedling establishment. Here’s a before and after:

The first picture shows a “before” picture that is pretty representative. There are several thistle plants, the bane of my existence, a couple cool season grass clumps, a few forbs, a lot of annual grass residue and the grayer residue on the lower right is two year old wheat residue. The field had been mowed about July 15 to limit seed production from the thistles and other weeds with the unavoidable corollary that it limits seed production of the native forbs. It also means less of a jungle of combustible materials, making for an orderly and easily managed fire. The above picture is the back-burn, as you can see by the direction of smoke travel, but it was a comparatively sedate burn even when the head burn was lit. There was a four person crew, all with some experience, making for a safe and stress free fire.

And here was the result, a completely burned field. What stands out to me in this picture is the linear rows with residue divided by more barren areas. This goes back to the way it was seeded, into wheat residue. Where the chaff comes out of the back of the combine it was difficult to get seed to establish, especially where tire tracks pushed everything flat. Now, however, those same areas should be open ground for the seed that we spread this fall to have a welcoming home where they can germinate, grow and send their progeny into the future. Right now I am organizing both my seed resources and my labor to get this done before the snow falls, the wind blows and we are shut off from the field. Two years ago after the conservation district originally seeded this, my friend Roger Assmus came up about November 15 and we were able to topdress that year’s gathered seed before the real snow came in December. Last winter, the winter that wasn’t a winter, I returned multiple times in January and February to keep tossing seed around the brown, comparatively warm landscape in a different area that had been burned that November. With no assurance that this winter will allow me to do that again, I am trying to line up a seed throwing party before Thanksgiving with a group of SDSU grad students from the Native Plant Initiative lab to get it all done at once. That demands that I be ready to give them the appropriate seed and directions, so I will be busy this week preparing.

Getting anything “all done at once” is almost an impossibility, to be honest, for several reasons. Gathering, processing, mixing appropriate batches, and storing everything for the perfect day to spread seed is simply beyond my facilities and probably my attention span. Many years of wandering the prairies has taught me exactly where species grow in my prairies, and while there are broad generalizations that can be made as to groupings for mesic, dry mesic or xeric sites they don’t hold true when looked at closely. White penstemon (Penstemon albidus), prairie turnip (Pediomelum esculentum) and slender milkvetch (Astragalus flexuosus) would all be considered xeric adapted species, but their homes in my native prairies hardly overlap. Though it wouldn’t be wrong to toss them all into the same bucket it feels better to be more specific in seeding to get them established in the right sites. The penstemon needs to go on the most xeric ground, the prairie turnip can go on all xeric sites except the most barren where the penstemon will go, and the slender milkvetch is found on sites grading into dry mesic, the only one of the three that will consistently be found where smooth brome (Bromus inermis) is trying to take over. In other words, I feel most comfortable when seeding species individually to match the soils where I find them in the native prairie. It isn’t practical to do that with everything, but rather a goal to which I aspire.

Thus, today, I filled most of my car with the year’s gathered seed, drove up to my partner, Ben Lardy’s place, and laid everything out. I gave him a few species to process and add to seed that he had gathered, he gave me a few species to add to my supplies and my plan for next weekend began to come together. While I can’t expect the opportunity to spread seed through the entire winter again, I’m hoping for some nice weather in early December to finish what we will begin in a few days. I hope to have another post detailing our progress in 2-3 weeks. Until then I need to go back to work, which began a couple days ago.

I couldn’t wait for the big seeding shindig, so I took the opportunity of a beautiful late fall day to go begin spreading seed, specifically needle and thread (Heterostipa comata) seed. The messy wad to the left of my glove is what is left of three gallons of seed after I spread it across the 3-4 acres of xeric soils in the burned field. Seeding needle and thread is a laborious task as their awns are made to catch in the fur of an animal to travel and find a new home. When gathered and thrown into a container they aggregate into a tight wad from which small groups of needles have to be extricated and then thrown into the wind, Three gallons took about two hours to spread, and I have about ten gallons more to go, though much of it will go on the Huggett 20 next spring after it is burned. I also got some other seed spread, and will continue to do that every chance I get, preparing for the possibility my seed tossing party doesn’t happen. Life is messy and we have to roll with it.